Swider-Peltz, Jr. is added to the Olympic speedskating roster

posted by pkinder - Dec. 27, 2009 07:19 PM

December 27, 2009—Salt Lake City, UT

Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr.(Wheaton, IL) is the newest member of the 2010 U.S. Olympic team for long track speedskating after winning the Ladies 3000m event during the 2010 U.S. Speedskating Championships at the Utah Olympic Oval. Finishing with a time of 4:09.50, Swider-Peltz will join Jilleanne Rookard (Woodhaven, MI) and Catherine Raney Norman (Elm Grove, WI) in the 3000m event at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Coached by her mother, four-time Olympic speedskater Nancy Swider-Peltz, Swider-Peltz, Jr. competed against ten other ladies for a spot on the team.

“Winning is personally fun but the credit and the glory today goes to her Maker for helping me make good decisions, “said Swider-Peltz, Sr. “Credit goes to God for who Nancy is.”

It was Trevor Marsicano (Ballston Spa, NY) earning the final spot in the Men’s 5000m. Marsicano already earned a spot in the 1000m and 1500m events, and will add the 5000m to his schedule during the Olympics.

Crossing the finish line at 6:21.02, Marsicano said, “It’s an on-time delivery. After my trials performance being so disappointing, it’s really nice that this happened.” Marsicano joins Olympians Shani Davis (Chicago, IL) and Chad Hedrick (Spring, TX) on the U.S. Men’s 5000m Olympic team.

The men and ladies also competed in the first 1000m event during today’s races. Kelly Gunther (Lorain, OH) won the ladies race with a time of 1:17.12 followed by Rebekah Bradford (Apple Valley, MN) and Anna Ringsred (Duluth, MN). For the men, Davis took first place finishing with 1:07.90 with 2002 Olympian Nick Pearson (West Allis, WI) in second and Mitchell Whitmore (Waukesha, WI) in third. The second 1000m event takes place on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

Racing continues on Tuesday with the Ladies’ and Men’s 1500m events. For complete results, visit www.usspeedskating.org.